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Revisiting Passing

This article harks back to one published in August1998 It was titled "Past Passing" and engendered (no pun intended) more feedback than any other article I have written. Rather than get into issues of "right" and "wrong," I'd rather describe the responses I received and try and understand what might have motivated such intense feelings.

To refresh you, the article dealt with the issue of a transsexual seeking SRS despite being unable to pass successfully. One reader challenged me on my definition of passing. "It depends where and with whom passing is attempted. I can pass in Kansas City but not in San Francisco. This is the hardest city to pass in. People are looking to spot TSs and make no bones about announcing 'a hit.' I also seem to pass adequately in impersonal situations--making purchases, etc., but not under scrutiny--a job interview."

Sandra Brewer's responded in ETVC's Channel writing, "...surgery can bring only misery when he is unaccepted by a society turned off by the sight of a man in a dress. If such a person was suicidal before surgery, he'll probably be even more so after the surgery."

Another reader wrote that self-confidence is all a person needs to succeed in the world. Several felt that being an "out" transsexual was good enough and made passing irrelevant. One person said she'd prefer to pass but she needs to live as a woman.

The variety of responses suggest that while transpeople have a lot in common, the need/desire to pass is not one of them. While no one communicated the preference to be "out" even 'though she can pass, it wouldn't surprise me if she, too is out there.

I think the intensity of feeling around this issue may mirror a human need to assign status to people in a class or group of individuals. I have been struck by the clustering of t-people based on the level of passibility they have achieved. The unpassables are sometimes scorned and frequently excluded from public social events, probably because they are seen as likely to expose their sisters. The almost-passables treat their even less fortunate sisters similarly. With the help of the medico/psychiatric community this elitism has become institutionalized and a rationale formulated to justify the withholding of hormonal therapy and surgery from transsexual men and women.

Consider another paradigm. Might it be reasonable that each transsexual individual, taking into consideration her own attributes, goals, support system, etc., formulate her objectives with regard to passing. As she progresses through transition these may be modified in a more or less ambitious direction so that by the time she has completed a year of cross-living and six months of psychotherapy (as recommended by HBIGDA's Standards of Care) she can make an informed decision about electing SRS. If, in spite of an experienced inability to pass, she still wants to live as a woman, with the benefits of SRS, barring mental illness, I think that is her personal choice.

If ever there was an opportunity to support one another rather than splinter and factionalize, it is around the issue of passing. The flukes of nature ought not determine whether an individual realizes her life's dream.

Dr. Anderson is located at 1537 Franklin St, Suite 104, San Francisco, CA 94109, 415-776-0139.

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